C.I.O. Day 1

Today we took little Bandido to see his judge (doctor) for the nine months check up and also to get the judge to give him his final sentence. First, his latest measurements are: Height 75 cm; Weight 10.4 kg; Head 49.5 cm. I guess he is still making good progress according to the chart. Secondly, upon hearing our opening statement about how little Bandido still wakes up constantly at night and cannot fall asleep by himself Judge Tam ordered the most serious sentence to be carried out immediately: Cry It Out.
I know we have talked about letting Joaquin CIO for a long while but we are both too soft to carry it out (despite the fact our friends all have given us tips and wisdom about how much we would appreciate it afterward). But not being able to sleep for 9 months has finally convinced us that the only way to improve the quality of our sleep is to let him CIO.
During our dinner time, Joaquin became sleepy and I took him to his room immediately. After singing him a song, I kissed him goodnight and left him in his crib and turned off the light. He of course goes into his usual defiant crying mode. I left the room and started the timer. After first 5 minutes, Jaime went inside to comfort him (but he couldn't really let him go before he would stop crying so I took over and put him down in the crib). We closed door and waited for another 5 minutes. I went inside to give him his milk and got him to stop crying and put him down again. After a few repetition, he was still howling hysterically . I couldn't left the room so was hiding in the corner in the dark to watch him cry. Just as I thought stubborn Joaquin would never give up (and that we are punished forever), his cry slowly turned into sobs and then he started breathing heavily and felt asleep. Total time was 40 minutes.
I guess it's a good start but as the doctor warned the consequence of not being able to keep it up: Any little deviation would turn us back to square one. Otherwise, after one week, we can start to enjoy uninterrupted evenings again. It's really a stubbornness test so let's hope that we can win this contest (and that little Joaquin can learn fast)...